“Some people are repelled by the darkness of an underwater cave, but for me it’s an invitation into the unknown,” says Suunto Ambassador Jill Heinerth. Heinerth is a pioneering underwater explorer and filmmaker, leading technical diver, and world expert in rebreather technology. Her love of the water began as a child and has persisted ever since. As a teen, Jill Heinerth was a volunteer swim instructor and lifeguard at her local swimming pool. Jacques Cousteau was her hero and by the age of 16 she was scuba diving.  Now, after more than a 20-year career, the Canadian underwater explorer and award-winning filmmaker has crossed the globe, diving in what she calls ‘the veins of mother earth’. Jill has dived deeper into the planet than any woman in history and seen some extraordinary places. She’s dived caves underneath the remote Ural mountains of Siberia, tickled the bellies of manatees near the Gulf of Mexico and explored sacred desert springs in Africa. In 2000, she was involved in one of her most ambitious projects to date — to dive inside a giant iceberg. In 2014 she was awarded the inaugural Sir Christopher Ondaatje Medal for Exploration by the Royal Canadian Geographical Society.  Jill is also a journalist and champion for women divers. She wrote a book called Women Underwater and in 2016 is part of a team of 10 women on an epic three-month journey, snorkeling more than 3000 km through frigid Arctic seas. “Some would suggest that exploration on this planet is done, but I disagree,” says Heinerth. “We know more about space than we do about our oceans and our underwater caves.” Her abiding love of the ocean and watery places has also transformed her into a strong advocate for water conservation and protection, via her We Are Water Project. This important cause aims to raise awareness about global water issues, and encourage people to do more to protect our fresh water resources. Jill cycled across Canada, raising awareness along the way. With the same goal in mind, she wrote a fun children’s book about an itchy manatee that has an important message about water pollution. Naturally, Suunto is the first choice of dive computer for Heinerth: “I’ve been using Suunto for a long time, and I think they represent the pinnacle of fine quality. The precise instruments and the ruggedness of the equipment have served me very well in some extreme diving expeditions over the years.” She adds: “The Suunto DX is the key support device that serves as a backup for my rebreather. It’s easy to integrate it into a CCR dive plan, or any plan for that matter – open circuit or closed circuit. It also contains a very accurate digital compass, which I use to survey and make maps of new exploration.”

“The appeal of freediving is how different it is to any other sport. The fact we’re completely immersed in liquid; a single breath, the weightlessness, the absence of sounds, the dullness of the colors... everything is subtracted,” says freediver William Trubridge. "It’s a completely different experience to life in the air element. When I'm diving it feels like I'm being accepted into the ocean." Trubridge, 35, is a multiple record-breaking freediver who has a natural affinity with the depths of the ocean. He is the first person to dive to 100 m without assistance. The ocean and its depths are as much William Trubridge’s home as his life on land. Born in Britain, the first few years of his life were a nomadic existence sailing around the world on his parents' yacht before the family settled in New Zealand. He learnt to swim at the age of 18 months, and was freediving to 15 m by the age of eight, competing with his older brother to see who could bring back a stone from the deepest depth. But it was not until he was 22 that he discovered freediving was a sport. Since then, Trubridge has broken numerous freediving records, including in 2010 becoming the first person to break the hectometer; diving to 100 m without assistance. His immersion in the aquatic world has made protecting the ocean a lifelong passion for Trubridge. In 2015, he launched the Plastic Challenge, a global campaign to raise awareness about the problem of seaborne plastic pollution. The campaign motivated people all over the world to clean up their local beaches and waterways. Trubridge is also a vocal ambassador of a NABU International campaign to save the critically endangered Maui and Hector dolphins. For much of the year he is based in the Bahamas, where he trains at Dean's Blue Hole, It is also the location of Suunto Vertical Blue, one of the largest freediving events in the world, which Trubridge organizes.     Although considered the world's best 'no-fins' freediver, Trubridge is also a multiple record holder in 'Free Immersion', where divers descend pulling on a rope. In 2011 and 2012 he received the World's Absolute Freediving Award (WAFA), which ranked him as the world's top freediver.    RECORDS: Constant Weight No Fins (CNF): 101m Free Immersion (FIM): 121mCheck more at www.aidainternational.org/competitive/worlds-records   Watch Face to Face with Will Trubridge, #SuuntoAdventure Video Series Episode 4

What makes ski mountaineer and trail runner Kilian Jornet tick? It’s not winning races or setting speed records, although he does excel at both. For him, it’s all about the mountains. “I am just a person who loves the mountains. I spend every day in the mountains,” says Kilian, “I love them because the landscape is amazing and full of challenges but I think the mountains gives a lot back. When you are in the mountains, you feel that you are nothing. When you have nothing you have everything to discover.” That passion stems from his childhood – Kilian grew up in a mountain hut in the Spanish Pyrenees where his father worked as a hut keeper and mountain guide. From a young age, Kilian was living and breathing mountain life. “The first time I walked for five hours alone in the mountains I was two years old!” says Kilian. He went on to climb his first 3,000er aged three. “I have conditioned my body to long distances from an early age!” he says. It clearly paid off. These days Kilian is known for dominating not one, but two mountain sports; ski mountaineering in winter and trail running in summer. As a trail runner he’s proved himself to be one of the world’s best – dominating ultras and setting a slew of records from the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc to the Hardrock 100 and dozens of races In 2012 Athletics Weekly argued that he was the ‘world’s best runner’ and he has one of the highest Vo2 levels recorded of an athlete (85-90). When the snow comes Kilian switches over to ski mountaineering where he has been world champion four years out of five since 2010. “Ski mountaineering is hard because you want to go fast. You have to push, you have to power through every step,” says Kilian. But again, it’s the lure of the mountains that ultimately win Kilian over, not the battle of competition: “Sometimes it’s in the forest, sometimes in couloirs. You can go wherever you want. You don’t have to follow a trail. You make your own track. It’s this feeling of freedom you get from ski mountaineering.” Yet Kilian is more than a record-breaking trail runner, a world champion ski mountaineer. With his Summits of My Life Project, in which he has set speed ascents on the Matterhorn, Mt Blanc and Denali among others, he has redefined what it means to be a mountain athlete, moving into territory once the preserve of elite alpinists. What beckons next for the athlete is never certain, but one thing is for sure – it will take place somewhere in the mountains. “The day I stop winning I’ll continue to go the mountains,” says Kilian, “I don’t run for victory. I don’t practice sport for competition. The reason I ski or run every day is to be in the mountains.” 

Make no mistake, Greg Hill is fit. Super-human fit. As one of the world’s leading ski mountaineers, he has pioneered first descents, summited over 190 mountains and climbed and skied millions of meters. For Greg, winter isn’t complete without pushing himself. Which is why he spent March 2014 tackling 100,000 m of vertical in deep in his native Canada’s backcountry Why? “I've always been curious about my human potential and to see what I can do,” says Greg. The March Madness campaign saw him skiing for up to 10 hours a day to cover between 3,000m to 4,000m of vertical. And if that wasn’t tricky enough, he never skied the same place twice and summited 11 mountains on the way. “It was as hard as anything I've done, waking up every morning and getting out there,” says Greg, but the long climbs were rewarded with stunning powder runs: “It was the best human-powered powder month ever! It was ridiculous. This was 97% great skiing!” Believe it or not, that’s not Revelstoke-based Greg’s biggest vertical achievement. Back in 2010 he dedicated a year of his life to climbing and skiing two million feet (609,600 m). The challenge took him to four different countries and saw him climb 114 km and ski 1,039 days. 77 of those days saw him tackle over 3,000 meters of vertical, and his toughest day involved a 7,000m climb and ski. After reaching his target, Greg celebrated the way he knows best; by putting his skins back on and doing one more lap. “My legs felt light, my pace free and the turns great of course,” blogged Greg afterwards. He’s clocked in a few records over the years as well. He was the first North American to climb and ski 40,000 ft (12,200m) in 24 hours, set the Spearhead traverse record in an impressive four hours one minute and was once climbed and skied Mont Blanc in a day. No wonder he was labeled one of the Top 25 fittest men in the world by Men’s Fitness in 2011. What led Greg to these super-human feats? Trees! One million of them. His former summer job was planting spruce and pine trees. As he was paid per tree, he pushed himself to plant around 1,500 a day and discovered a talent for logging hours in the backcountry. “It taught me a lot about how to persevere,” says Greg.